1.16.2011

Lasgana Made Healthy(ier)!

A typical Sunday in my house.

Me: What do you want for dinner?
Bryan: Lasagna
Me: No. What else do you want for dinner?
Bryan: Why no lasagna?? You never make what I want... you always cook healthy stuff that I hate. Please make lasagna. Please.

And then I concede, make the lasagna and spend three hours in the gym on Monday trying to work off last night's dinner.

Well I decided to break the vicious cycle today. While I did make the lasagna, I made quite a few healthy additions/substitutions and now will feel MUCH better about eating a piece (or two) for dinner tonight.

Here is my adaptation from the recipe on the back of the Barilla lasagna noodle box:
1 (9 ounce) box of barilla no-boil lasagna noodles This is a must. Do not buy regular lasagna noodles as those need to boiled first.
1 eggs
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese I only used three cups, a mixture of part-skim and non-fat
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese I skipped this all together, 3 cups is plenty of cheese!
1 lb ground beef or 1 lb sausage, browned I left out the meat, although you could easily use ground chicken or turkey here.
28 oz can Crushed Tomatoes, plus 1/2 jar tomato sauce
I also added a green bell pepper, chopped, 1/2 container of baby portobello mushrooms, chopped and 1/2 bag of spinach, chopped

Preheat oven to 375.
In bowl, combine beaten egg and ricotta cheese. Here is where I jazzed things up by adding dried oregano and basil, along with a chopped green bell pepper and chopped fresh spinach.
In a 13X9 pan, spread 1 cup of sauce on bottom of pan.
Layer in the order, 4 uncooked lasagna noodles (they will overlap), then 1/3 part of the ricotta cheese mixture, half the browned meat, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and 1 cup of spaghetti sauce.
Next layer, 4 noodles, 1/3 part of the ricotta cheese mixture, and 1 1/2 cups sauce TWO times.
For top layer, 4 uncooked lasagna noodles, remaining sauce, and remaining 1 cup mozzarella.
 
All assembled: 
 
 
Bake covered with foil for 50-60 minutes.
Uncover and continue cooking until all the cheese is melted on the top (about 5 minutes).
Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

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